If your cookies are too hard, there may be too much flour, or too less fat or they have been baked for too long or over low temperatures. If your cookies are too crumbly maybe there’s too much sugar or fat or are not mixed well. Oven temperatures are very important. Try baking them at higher temperatures for shorter periods.

If you have cooking chocolate and no cocoa or vice versa, you may substitute 30 gms unsweetened chocolate with 3 tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon butter or margarine. Add sugar as per taste

While preparing mocktails, if you don’t want to use coconut milk, you may substitute it with plain milk or sugarcane juice. If you use sugarcane juice adjust the drink well for sugar.

Wrap fresh yeast in plastic and keep it in fridge (not freezer). Remains fresh up to a month.

Breads : When mixing yeast in dough, put it in warm water/milk. Then put it in the dough. Always make a well, between the maida and put the yeast mix.

When dough for bread is kept in a vessel, it should always be covered with wet cloth. After making various shapes as desired, keep it under wet cloth for 15-20 minutes and then bake it.

When making cakes, put in greased baking tin, lined with butter paper. Grease it with butter/margarine or do dusting with maida.

For icing on cakes, to level it, you may dip a blunt knife in hot water and then level the cream as required on top.

While grating chocolate put a little oil on both sides of the grater. Grate from up to down only and not vice versa, using the largest holes of the grater.

While whipping cream, keep the cream and pan in the fridge for 15-20 minutes so that both are chilled before you start whipping it in the pan. Use an electric beater.